Mamá Inés Mexican Bakery

Mamá Inés Mexican Bakery is a business, founded by entrepreneur Rosa Gaeta Montoya, that has operated several outlets in Indianapolis since 2006. It was founded in 1999 in Lafayette, Indiana, a city then lacking authentic Mexican bakeries, with a goal of providing traditional baked goods to local Latine residents. The business’s eventual popularity among non-Latine customers catalyzed the expansion to Indianapolis.

Bakery originator Rosa Gaeta Montoya came to Lafayette, Indiana, in 1983, at age sixteen. Because bread is an integral part of Mexican cuisine, Gaeta Montoya as a young adult began driving to Chicago to find authentic Mexican baked goods that were unavailable in Lafayette. Though she had no formal culinary training, Gaeta Montoya saw an opportunity to provide such products to Lafayette’s growing Latine population, inspiring her to open her first shop in 1999. Gaeta Montoya’s clientele came from as far as Indianapolis, prompting her to open two locations in the state capital: one in the westside Stringtown neighborhood in 2006 and the other at the International Marketplace in 2016.

Gaeta Montoya named the bakery after her mother, Maria Inés Cornejo, who as a single parent had raised ten children in Salazares Tlaltenango, Zacatecas, Mexico, and who remained in Mexico. The original Lafayette location is fashioned to evoke a Mexican hacienda, with imported blue tiles from Mexico adorning the building.

The authenticity of the baked items at Mamá Inés Mexican Bakery has garnered recognition from a broad customer base, a community of food enthusiasts, and other business owners. In 2015, documentarian Rick Sebak highlighted the business in his PBS documentary A Few Great Bakeries. The next year, the State of Indiana named Gaeta Montoya the Latino Business Owner of the Year.

Since its opening, Mamá Inés Mexican Bakery has remained a family-owned business. It has also sought to demonstrate solidarity with Latine and immigrant community concerns: for instance, by remaining closed for the February 2017 “Day without Immigrants” nationwide protest, and by educating customers about Latin American holidays and cultures.